After ED charge sheet, Congress tells Kerala CM to come clean on Swapna

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After the ED charge-sheeted Swapna Suresh and two others in a PMLA court in a money laundering case, state Congress President MullapallyRamachandran on Wednesday demanded that Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan come clean on gold smuggling case prime accused Swapna.

Referring to the charge sheet against Swapna, Sarith PS, and Sandeep Nair, the Congress leader alleged that Vijayan was aware of her new job in the state-owned Space Park, which directly comes under the charge of the Chief Minister.

"Vijayan had said he had no clue of how she got a job in the Space Park, but the ED charge sheet says he was aware. Vijayan then said his office is not a haven for such people. That statement has since fallen flat and the onus is now on him to come clean," said Ramachandran.

"The charge sheet also claimed that she had met Vijayan along with his now-suspended Principal Secretary M Sivasankar six times. It is very serious. Vijayan's credibility has taken a hit. So, one has to doubt if the so-called probe on how she got the job is in limbo due to such relations," the Congress leader remarked.

Swapna Suresh was arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Bengaluru in the gold smuggling case that surfaced in July.

Swapna earlier worked in the UAE Consulate office here but quit and joined Space Park on a monthly salary of over Rs 1.50 lakh.

"Even though the Vijayan government is caught up in numerous scams and probes are on by various agencies, proper evidence against any accused has not come up for some reason. It is because of a secret understanding between the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the BJP since crucial elections are round the corner," Ramachandran alleged. (IANS)

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